| Article
11. The doubts which are presented
to the clerks concerning the computation of the
fees of the judges will
be decided by the latter.
Article
12. From the day on which the judicial stamps
begin to be used the reviewers of the
appraisements of costs established in the
island of Cuba in consequence of the Royal Cedula of
the 29th of July of 1845, which prohibited
the Alcaldes Mayores to collect fees, will
cease to function.
Article
13. The Superintendents of Cuba and Porto Rico will
make ordinary or extraordinary visits to the courts
of their territory as often as they believe it
convenient, to the end that, what is ordered having full
effect, the Treasury may not suffer any injury.
Article
14. The same Superintendents will remit at
the end of each three months to the
Administration of Colonies a comparative statement
of the judicial stamps used in each court and of
the number of sheets of stamped paper of
class they consumed in the same, in accordance
with the attached model, requesting partial
statements from the senior clerks of these (courts)
Article
15. That which is ordered in the
preceding articles will be punctually observed
in the Treasury Court of the island of Cuba and
in any others of this class which may be established in accordance
with the provisions of the Royal Cedula of
the 30th of January, last.
Article
16. The same instructions will be observed with respect
to the Treasury Court of the island of Porto Rico, whose Judge and
Fiscal (Prosecuting Attorney) will enjoy
from the (date of) the countersigning (by the Governor)
of this Royal Order the fixed annual
salary which the Superintendent Governor
fixes, listening to the Council
(Acuerdo) and to the Directing Board of Finance
and rendering a report, by means of an "expedience''
(papers pertaining to a matter) for
the decision of Her Majesty.
Article
17. In the Military Courts of the
expressed Island of Cuba and Porto Rico,
whose officials enjoy fixed salaries by virtue
of that ordered in the Royal Decree
of the 24th of January of 1853, the
previous instructions will have full effect,
to which end the opportune; orders will be dictated
by the Ministry of War. At the same
time and with the object of making this reform extensive
to the Ecclesiastical Court of that Archbishoprie and
to the Letrado Consulter (Learned Counseller) of
the Court Commerce, Her Majesty has ordered that Your
Excellency, after hearing the advisory decision of
the Council (Acuerde), propose the
fixed salary which you consider opportune to be
constituted for those officials, and that Your
Excellency decide as to the proper manner in which
you will be obliged to have it
done with respect to the Promotores Fiscales, and as
is the manner of collection by the
Treasury of the judicial fees which these officials
and the Alcaldes Mayores obtain for their services
until the opportune stamps are remitted to you, the
printing of which is commanded by the Royal Order of
this date.
"And
there is decreed your compliance with it from today and
that it will be observed from the 1st of February, next,
on which (date) the Alcaldes Majores begin
the enjoyment of the fixed salary
which has been assigned to them by the Royal Decree of
the 1st of this month, ceasing on
the same (date) to receive the judicial fees which
they obtain for their services, and
that (fees) should enter the Public Treasury in the manner
which this Sovereign Order determines. - Transmitted
to you for your information
and opportune ends.” [59] |
In
accordance with the provisions of
the decree above quoted there were
printed for use in the Spanish Colonies two issues of DERECHO JUDICIAL
stamps, those of 1856-61 and of
1865. The issue of 1856-61 includes
several colors of each denomination. Forbin
believes that certain colors were assigned to each of the three colonies
in which these stamps were used, but
is unable to say which colors were assigned to
each colony. The writer believes that
there may have been a new printing of
these stamps for each of the five biennial
periods between 1856 and 1865, different
colors being used for each printing.
Each denomination, except the one real,
was issued in five different colors. The one
real was issued only three colors. The fact
that the use of these stamps was not
extended to the Philippines until 1860 would account
for the fact that not more than
three colors of any one denomination are known
to have been used in the Philippines. It is uncertain whether
or not the 10 reales and 100 reales denominations
were ever used in the Philippines.
It is possible that the one real denomination
was not issued until 1860, which would account for
the issue of this denomination in only three colors.
The
first DERECHO JUDICIAL stamps for use exclusively in the Philippines
were issued, according to Forbin, in
1866. Two denominations were
issued, one peso and five pesos. In the same year
a separate series of DERECHO JUDICAL
stamps was issued for use in Cuba and Porto Rico, and it
appears that subsequent to 1866 the
DERECHO JUDICIAL stamps issued between 1856 and
1865 for SPANISH COLONIES were not used in Cuba
and Porto Rico, In the Philippines,
however, the DERECHO JUDICIAL stamps issued for Spanish Colonies
continued to be used until at least as late as
1869. In 1869, the remaining stock of these stamps were surcharged
"HABILITADO POR LA NACION'' (Made
Valid By the Nation) by the order of
the Provisional Government which succeeded
Queen Isabella II when she was deposed by
the revolution of 1866. It appears
that this surcharge was ordered by virtue of Article
63 of the Royal Decree of February 12, 1830, which
required that whenever a new sovereign ascended the
throne all current stamped paper must be surcharged “Made Valid for
the Reign of _______” (inserting the name of the new sovereign). After
the revolution of 1868, there was no sovereign. Hence the stamps issued
by the deposed sovereign were “made valid by the nation” for use by the
Provisional Government.
In
1874, a Derecho Judicial, stamp was issued
with the denomination expressed in pesetas.
The denomination of this stamp, 1.25 pesetas, was equivalent to exactly
2 reales. It was expressed in pesetas in
conformity with the practice followed for other stamps and stamped
paper issued during the period from January 1,
1872, to December 31, 1877. Since only one denomination
was issued in 1874, it is inferred that this
denomination was issued because of the exhaustion
of the 2-reales denomination of the issue
which had been surcharged "HABILITADO POR LA NACION”
in 1869. It may farther be inferred
that all other Dcrecho Judicial stamps which
had been surcharged "Habilitado Por La Nacion"
in 1869 remained in use until the end of
1877, since there was no further issue
of Derecho Judicial stamps until 1878.
Contrary
to the practice followed for other stamps and stamped
paper issued during the period subsequent to January 1, 1878,
the issue of Derecho Judicial stamps which appeared in
1878 had the denominations expressed in reales.
This may have been due to the fact that the
Tariff of Judicial Fees was still expressed in
reales. On the other hand,
the writer has not been able to verify
the date of issue of the
series of DERECHO JUDICIAL stamps which Forbin
lists as issued in 1878. Is
it possible that they were in reality issued prior
to January 1, 1872. |
